Prep & Mods (thru 09/19/98)

Prep & Mods
thru 09/19/98

Five weeks between races may seem like a lot of time, but when you pile all this on your plate, it goes quickly:

Bikes:

The shocks and forks were treated to their bi-annual rebuild by GMD Computrack LA. While they were at that, they added a few new trick parts to the mix. The Race Tech gold valves were machined and the shim stack pre-loaded. What Michael and Morris are trying to attempt by this is a more flexible fast and slow compression setup. They also switched from 10wt Silkolene oil to 5wt to help keep the damping consistent in varying temperature ranges. Morris installed a thrust washer between the spring and the preload adjuster on the shock to make spinning the adjuster a lot easier.

New progressive rebound jets were installed in the Penske shocks. Penske also has a new speed-sensitive valve available, but the guys at Computrack wanted some more time researching the set up of the shim stacks before installing it.

Steve's three off-track excursions have left his bodywork looking pretty shabby. A new set was ordered up and painted, along with some touch-ups to my bodywork after my fall at Sears Point.

Curt Jordan had a peek inside my motor for it's six-month checkup. Simple oil and plug change, valve adjust, and a check on the dyno. Unfortunately the tranny for Steve's new motor is still being worked on, so we weren't able to get that in before Willow. We'll try to get it in after the AMA race in Las Vegas next month.

We rebuilt the steering dampers on both bikes using all new inners and 10wt Silkolene oil. We also changed all the seals in the front brake calipers and rebuilt the master cylinders.

Modern World Ventures had some new amber Fog City Pro-Shields for us to try out. We put one on a smoked lens for Steve - he loved it.

Trailer:

Steve's friend Louis Navoa built a vertical rack to hold our Eagle safety cans. Fallbrook Powder Coating did a nice job protecting it from the elements.

Motor Home:

To better gauge the extra stress we're putting on our beast of burden, I installed a Auto Meter transmission temperature gauge and a Napa tranny cooler. The local Chevy dealer did a tune & service and swapped out all the lubrication fluids some some pretty trick stuff from Red Line. To help pull the trailer up those long grades like the Grapevine, we dropped the coach off at Gale Banks Engineering for a new hi-flow exhaust system. The advertised increase of 80 horses and 100 lbs of torque have to be felt to be believed. Where we used to crawl up the 138 grade on the way to Willow at 5mph, we cruised up on Thursday at 25mph. It's supposed to be good for a couple of mpg - when you're already getting single-digit mileage anything little bit will help.

Bob